Snow Leopard to support native 3G Wireless WAN hardware

Building on evidence that Apple is seeking to hire engineers to test new Macs with 3G Wireless WAN support, people familiar with the company's plans say Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will incorporate new support for native WWAN hardware.

These people report that the new version of the System Profiler application provided in Snow Leopard developer builds includes WWAN reporting under its network information section, shown in the artist's conception below. System Profiler is used to compile hardware information; if Apple were only reporting information on third party USB 3G WWAN peripherals, something that Mac OS X already supports, those reports would continue to be included with other USB devices.

Instead, Snow Leopard's System Profiler breaks out WWAN support on the same level as other technologies that are available from Apple, directly built into Mac hardware models, including the ubiquitous Bluetooth and AirPort as well as hardware interfaces that are only available on specific Mac models, such as the Fibre Channel and SAS of the Xserve and Mac Pro.

Last year, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told USA Today that Apple explored the idea of building a 3G chip into the 13-inch MacBook Air, but said he ultimately decided against the move because he doesn't want MacBooks to be tied to a specific wireless carrier for enhanced internet services.

In the year since, global economic troubles have forced new pressures on PC retail prices and have helped make netbooks popular, albeit not necessarily profitable for hardware manufacturers. Netbooks are low cost mini-notebooks that are often subsidized by mobile service contracts.

Apple has shown no interest in entering the netbook hardware category, but has been wildly successful in marketing the iPhone with a mandatory voice and data contract that enables the company to offer the ~ $600 device for just $200 with a contract.

The likelihood of Apple following the same strategy to offer Macs to consumers at a subsidized entry prices surfaced earlier this year when it was reported that Orange's UK division was wrapping up talks with Apple to offer subsidized MacBooks to customers who sign up for its top-rated 3G service. At the time, Orange was said to be testing its USB dongle modems with the current line of MacBooks, suggesting the deal had little to do with any plan on Apple's part to build wireless broadband chips directly into its notebooks.

Speculation that Apple may separately be planning to tie 3G chips into its future notebook designs received a shot in the arm this week when it was discovered that the company's Mac Hardware Group was actively seeking to hire a position responsible for "testing and reporting hardware, software, and device driver bugs for Communications technologies including AirPort (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth v2.0, gigabit Ethernet, and/or 3G Wireless WAN in a detailed, timely manner."

For whatever reason, Apple plucked the job listing from its website following media reports on the matter, which could be seen as a sign that the listing was a bit too revealing of some actual plans by the company to move towards embedded 3G hardware in its Mac line. However, the Mac maker has been actively seeking someone to fill the position for more than 3 months and made no effort to remove at least 4 similar copies (1, 2, 3, 4) of the same job listing, which could still apply to evaluation of dongle devices rather than native hardware.

Still, the fact that WWAN support is being included in System Profiler of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard may provide the most concrete evidence yet that the 3G Wireless WAN support Apple is reportedly testing could arrive as early as Snow Leopard, which is expected to publicly debut at WWDC and become available to users shortly afterward. That said, all of the evidence pointing to native 3G hardware turning up in versions of Mac notebooks this year remains fairly anecdotal.

If they put 3G into their future tablet or computers, would you be required to use at&t or any other phone company to get internet or would i be able to use wifi from my house or a hotspot? i wouldn't want to pay for my iphone and another device.

A 8" tablet Mac..
I defintely don't need a laptop but I need something I can lug around, bigger than my iPhone and I can use to sync my iPhone.

A tablet Mac is certain to use the iPhone OS-X instead of the desktop OS-X. It will sync with the "main" desktop computer just like your current iPhone does, not sync with your iPhone.

Both devices will likely sync with MobileMe and other cloud junk so they will both be in sync with each other, but if you are expecting the tablet to be your main computer and sync the iPhone to it in that sense, I think this is really, really, really, unlikely.

In Windows, a window can be a document, it can be an application, or it can be a window that contains other documents or applications. Theres just no consistency. Its just a big grab bag of monkey...

Maybe it's just a cleaning up of their networking options. Right now, 3G cards are kinda funky. It'll work with Leopard natively but it comes up as a PPP device and has a phone icon listed like it's old school dial-up. The software install from Sierra Wireless has a much better Menu Bar option that shows you the bars of signal and if your on GPRS, EDGE or 3G at the moment. It also can handle changes in network types while moving better than Apple's software.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hmurchison

I don't expect to see WWAN cards in Macbooks...

I hope you aren't right. I'd get a new Mac if they included this card, even if it meant going to a 15" MBP over the nice and tiny 13" MB. My current USB 3G card finally broke at the USB port after so much abuse but they cost a couple hudrend to replace so I soldered the wires to an old USB cord. They were only about 1/2" long and about 4 strands of wire so the procedure was quite difficult. Especually when you consider that I was on the road, bought a soldering kit at a Walmart and use a socket on the outside of the building near their automative service center on the pavement while laying down so I could be more stable and closer. Surprisingly it works.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

If they put 3G into their future tablet or computers, would you be required to use at&t or any other phone company to get internet or would i be able to use wifi from my house or a hotspot? i wouldn't want to pay for my iphone and another device.

Jobs said he didn't want to use it because it would tie customers down to one carrier...maybe very soon they won't be.

Apple posting a WWAN job position is nothing to get excited about. Intel has been planning to include WWAN directly on future chipsets, and if Intel does it NVIDIA won't be far behind. So once the hardware support is included, Apple will write drivers and test behind the scenes.

This is certainly not a major sign that laptops or any other hardware are coming with carrier tie ins or subsidies. Stop dreaming people. Apple is simply keeping up with the hardware vendors provide to them.

Apple posting a WWAN job position is nothing to get excited about. Intel has been planning to include WWAN directly on future chipsets, and if Intel does it NVIDIA won't be far behind. So once the hardware support is included, Apple will write drivers and test behind the scenes.

This is certainly not a major sign that laptops or any other hardware are coming with carrier tie ins or subsidies. Stop dreaming people. Apple is simply keeping up with the hardware vendors provide to them.

End speculation now.

That makes the most sense to me. Come LTE however, I think we'll begin to see a lot of notebooks with antennae and SIM slots, unlocked. Hopefully, this will be a part of a larger movement toward unsubsidized hardware and lower rate plans overall. Once the standard is uniform, carriers will have to find new ways to compete.

So is that Snow Leopard System Profile screenshot supposed to be a mockup?

I only ask because it clearly is a fake. The "WWAN" text isn't even properly antialiased.

I'm sure AI could just do a screenshot much easier, but this does prevent those pesky cease and desist letters from appearing.

Quote:

These people report that the new version of the System Profiler application provided in Snow Leopard developer builds includes WWAN reporting under its network information section, shown in the artist's conception below.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

Ok a throw back to the sixties but it would be nice to have in a tablet or ultra portable. Maybe even full sized laptops. That is if the plans are reasonably priced and if one could tie to their iPhone account for an additional discount.

Frankly I'm a bit of a convert here as iPhone has convinced me of the value of a net connection almost anywhere. It is useful enough that I got rid of my old dial up connection and phone line at home. With the coming increases in transfer rates you will soon have the equivalent of a low end wired connection.

My desire here is for a right sized tablet that I could justify right now. The MBP is to new to replace unless something really compelling comes out.

Ok a throw back to the sixties but it would be nice to have in a tablet or ultra portable. Maybe even full sized laptops. That is if the plans are reasonably priced and if one could tie to their iPhone account for an additional discount.

Frankly I'm a bit of a convert here as iPhone has convinced me of the value of a net connection almost anywhere. It is useful enough that I got rid of my old dial up connection and phone line at home. With the coming increases in transfer rates you will soon have the equivalent of a low end wired connection.

My desire here is for a right sized tablet that I could justify right now. The MBP is to new to replace unless something really compelling comes out.

I'm hoping for the tablet too.

What I'd really like to see is Jobs get up on stage and announce the new iPhone, the tablet, and the WWAN in the laptops all at the same time and for the cell companies to do the reasonable thing and give us one low price for a person or family that covers all the devices we have.

While the current ridiculously high prices we have to pay for data are, well ... ridiculous, what would be worse is being gouged like that per device. It would be to Apple's advantage to force this as it will definitely slow their sales growth if each Apple product the consumers buy requires a $70 a month contract.

Also, if Apple comes out with a "cheap" iPhone this time, the cell companies would make far more money off it by lowering the data prices by half and making it up on the volume than they would by lowering it the rumoured ten percent. The people that balk at paying $70 a month won't be enticed by $60, but if it was $30 and the new cheaper iPhone was thrown in for free it would be like LG chocolate all over again and the huge increase in sales would make it worthwhile.

In Windows, a window can be a document, it can be an application, or it can be a window that contains other documents or applications. Theres just no consistency. Its just a big grab bag of monkey...

A tablet Mac is certain to use the iPhone OS-X instead of the desktop OS-X. It will sync with the "main" desktop computer just like your current iPhone does, not sync with your iPhone.

Both devices will likely sync with MobileMe and other cloud junk so they will both be in sync with each other, but if you are expecting the tablet to be your main computer and sync the iPhone to it in that sense, I think this is really, really, really, unlikely.

I don't think it will use the iPhone OS since the tablet will have better processor, storage, and performance (if it comes out). A more accurate statement that it will based on Cocoa Touch. I think it will be an area between the iPhone OS and Mac OS. My only concern is we might need to buy our apps all over again.

A tablet Mac is certain to use the iPhone OS-X instead of the desktop OS-X. It will sync with the "main" desktop computer just like your current iPhone does, not sync with your iPhone.

Both devices will likely sync with MobileMe and other cloud junk so they will both be in sync with each other, but if you are expecting the tablet to be your main computer and sync the iPhone to it in that sense, I think this is really, really, really, unlikely.

Maybe it's just a cleaning up of their networking options. Right now, 3G cards are kinda funky. It'll work with Leopard natively but it comes up as a PPP device and has a phone icon listed like it's old school dial-up. The software install from Sierra Wireless has a much better Menu Bar option that shows you the bars of signal and if your on GPRS, EDGE or 3G at the moment. It also can handle changes in network types while moving better than Apple's software.

I hope you aren't right. I'd get a new Mac if they included this card, even if it meant going to a 15" MBP over the nice and tiny 13" MB. My current USB 3G card finally broke at the USB port after so much abuse but they cost a couple hudrend to replace so I soldered the wires to an old USB cord. They were only about 1/2" long and about 4 strands of wire so the procedure was quite difficult. Especually when you consider that I was on the road, bought a soldering kit at a Walmart and use a socket on the outside of the building near their automative service center on the pavement while laying down so I could be more stable and closer. Surprisingly it works.

wow
I just bought the verizon usb mobile broadband.
it's the 760 small black.
I can't seem to stream from hulu so well, even with the cheap antenna attached.
Should I but the $60 5x usb antenna ???

wow
I just bought the verizon usb mobile broadband.
it's the 760 small black.
I can't seem to stream from hulu so well, even with the cheap antenna attached.
Should I but the $60 5x usb antenna ???

I can stream Hulu great on mine. It's 3G , but with Category 5 HSUPA radios. That means 7.2Mbps (Cat10 HSDPA) down and 2.0Mbps up. I have gotten over 3Mbps down and 1.3Mbps up. About 75% of those registered speeds are about my average.

This goes to show you that one carrier is always better than another in every circumstance. I know AT&T have upping their network because I tell the difference with my browsing.

PS: HSDPA goes to Category 14 at 21.1Mbps and HSUPA to Category (3GPP Rel7)\tat 11.5 Mbps. Then there is Evoloved HSPA (HSPA+) under 3G which can go to 42 Mbps down and 22 Mbps up while still using the same air interface as the other WCDMA standards. This means that LTE, which is the magic word of the month, is not the next step in WWAN throughput.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

My OLD QUESTION is still answered on this Forum, and ATT and Verizon clerks don't have even a hint of a clue! Here it is again:

Does LTE mean the end of GSM and CDMA Divide in the US? How about the rest of the world?

LTE = new Worldwide UNIFIED Standard, or is LTE vs WiMAx going to be The New GSM vs. CDMA War, all over again?

Spring is WiMax, but how big is WiMax going to be worldwide?!

Worldwide Roaming, or will the US Carriers make International Partnerships, so that they charge for roaming like crazy! Or will they have World Regions, ala DVD's?!

Looks like Cell Carriers will be the New ISPs, once the LTE Speeds and COVERAGE are as good as Cable Companies!

LTE = end of landline phones? Or will the landline phones be mostly for poor + older people?

Either way, it seems like the DATA Prices will be too high for too long, before they start coming down! Thus the Digital Divide is not going away soon! Video Chats on iPhones etc. needs Speed, and Speed and Coverage will be CO$TLY, thus the Digital Divide = Economic Divide!

I hope you aren't right. I'd get a new Mac if they included this card, even if it meant going to a 15" MBP over the nice and tiny 13" MB. My current USB 3G card finally broke at the USB port after so much abuse but they cost a couple hudrend to replace so I soldered the wires to an old USB cord. They were only about 1/2" long and about 4 strands of wire so the procedure was quite difficult. Especually when you consider that I was on the road, bought a soldering kit at a Walmart and use a socket on the outside of the building near their automative service center on the pavement while laying down so I could be more stable and closer. Surprisingly it works.

As would I and many people I know. Maybe AT&T will enhance their plan to include a MacBook and an iPhone like a buddy system we now have for two phones. It's a no brainer this will happen in some form on laptops just to fill in the ever shrinking Wi-Fi gaps. 3G will be old very soon too, maybe those soon to be not used TV frequencies could be useful?

From Apple ][ - to new Mac Pro I've owned them all.Long on AAPL so biased"Google doesn't sell you anything, Google just sells you!"

My OLD QUESTION is still answered on this Forum, and ATT and Verizon clerks don't have even a hint of a clue! Here it is again:

Does LTE mean the end of GSM and CDMA Divide in the US? How about the rest of the world?

LTE = new Worldwide UNIFIED Standard, or is LTE vs WiMAx going to be The New GSM vs. CDMA War, all over again?

Spring is WiMax, but how big is WiMax going to be worldwide?!

Worldwide Roaming, or will the US Carriers make International Partnerships, so that they charge for roaming like crazy! Or will they have World Regions, ala DVD's?!

Looks like Cell Carriers will be the New ISPs, once the LTE Speeds and COVERAGE are as good as Cable Companies!

LTE = end of landline phones? Or will the landline phones be mostly for poor + older people?

Either way, it seems like the DATA Prices will be too high for too long, before they start coming down! Thus the Digital Divide is not going away soon! Video Chats on iPhones etc. needs Speed, and Speed and Coverage will be CO$TLY, thus the Digital Divide = Economic Divide!

I'll try to be as helpful as possible, but maybe this reply won't be helpful in the way you would like. Some of that is just going to be speculation. I'd like to know some of those answers. I don't know if a cellular store clerk is aware of what's coming except to prepare for the next model of phone, someone else said that LTE hasn't even been ratified yet, so its future may still be in flux.

I am skeptical that LTE is going to do away with the CDMA standard . Personally, I would like a fallback mode, as it is, iPhone falls back from 3G to EDGE to plain GSM/GPRS, depending on signal quality and network availability. Say you sign up for LTE from Verizon with a hypothetical LTE iPhone. If it doesn't support CDMA, what happens if the signal is too weak for LTE? It's not going to jump onto AT&T's network is it? I honestly don't know if a phone with both CDMA/GSM is going to roam on the other standard.

Apple posting a WWAN job position is nothing to get excited about. Intel has been planning to include WWAN directly on future chipsets, and if Intel does it NVIDIA won't be far behind. So once the hardware support is included, Apple will write drivers and test behind the scenes.

This is certainly not a major sign that laptops or any other hardware are coming with carrier tie ins or subsidies. Stop dreaming people. Apple is simply keeping up with the hardware vendors provide to them.

End speculation now.

Thing is, because Apple uses a very limited hardware selection, OS support for built-in hardware is only going to exist if Apple is considering actually putting that hardware into shipping units. Otherwise, 3rd parties can write drivers and it'll show up under USB devices.

I can stream Hulu great on mine. It's 3G , but with Category 5 HSUPA radios. That means 7.2Mbps (Cat10 HSDPA) down and 2.0Mbps up. I have gotten over 3Mbps down and 1.3Mbps up. About 75% of those registered speeds are about my average.

This goes to show you that one carrier is always better than another in every circumstance. I know AT&T have upping their network because I tell the difference with my browsing.

PS: HSDPA goes to Category 14 at 21.1Mbps and HSUPA to Category (3GPP Rel7)\tat 11.5 Mbps. Then there is Evoloved HSPA (HSPA+) under 3G which can go to 42 Mbps down and 22 Mbps up while still using the same air interface as the other WCDMA standards. This means that LTE, which is the magic word of the month, is not the next step in WWAN throughput.

I have no idea how you connect to the internet. The card above is an 802.11b/g card. That cannot connect to Verizon's wireless network. There has to be another device in-between if you are relaying from a WiFi connection to an EV-DO connection, but that is pointless unless you are in the boonies and have some super big antenna on your home that needs to pick it up before relaying it.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

if Apple were only reporting information on third party USB 3G WWAN peripherals, something that Mac OS X already supports, those reports would continue to be included with other USB devices.

Instead, Snow Leopard's System Profiler breaks out WWAN support on the same level as other technologies that are available from Apple, directly built into Mac hardware models, including the ubiquitous Bluetooth and AirPort as well as hardware interfaces that are only available on specific Mac models, such as the Fibre Channel and SAS of the Xserve and Mac Pro.

The whole article is largely dependent on the assumption that Apple only lists hardware in System Profiler if that hardware comes integrated with a Mac. But that is not true. They separately list Printers (which would plug into the USB or Firewire ports) and Fibre Channel (which would plug into a PCI slot).

I have no idea how you connect to the internet. The card above is an 802.11b/g card. That cannot connect to Verizon's wireless network. There has to be another device in-between if you are relaying from a WiFi connection to an EV-DO connection, but that is pointless unless you are in the boonies and have some super big antenna on your home that needs to pick it up before relaying it.

Thank you. I connect to the internet at work with the verizon usb 760 broadband mobile
But my signal is weak and I am trying to figure out some kind of signal boost .

Unless, of course, Apple can encourage AT&T to have a single data plan shared over two 3G chips.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

A tablet Mac is certain to use the iPhone OS-X instead of the desktop OS-X. It will sync with the "main" desktop computer just like your current iPhone does, not sync with your iPhone.

Both devices will likely sync with MobileMe and other cloud junk so they will both be in sync with each other, but if you are expecting the tablet to be your main computer and sync the iPhone to it in that sense, I think this is really, really, really, unlikely.

Yeah I agree with that.

I'd actually like to see my laptop "sync" a subset of data from my TimeCapsule. So that I could have 500GB of film, music, & photos, but only sync 20GB to my laptop. Of course, when I'm at home I should have all 500GB at my fingertips.